Maus + White

Maus by Art Spiegelman is a terrific book. I read this over the course of 24 hours, and I believe I retained the story so well because of the format in which it is presented; the graphic novel.

This is the first graphic novel that I have ever read. Maus is an impressive combination of imagery and language. Prior to this I was only familiar with the more traditional comic...

I really enjoyed the format in which Spiegelman presents the story as a narrator interviewing a narrator. However, the idea of a serious matter such as World War II being presented as cats versus mice seemed a bit crude to me. Now that I have read the story I understand the perspective that this characteristic brings to the narrative. Vladek's retelling of events is so well done that you forget that all these events are being acted out by cats and mice. This is paired nicely with the contemporary point-of-view presented by Art.

    Now, the article by Hayden White entitled "The Value of Narrativity in the Representation of Reality" is a very interesting article that dives deeply into the theory of creating a story. I, however, honestly did not like the depth that was used to evaluate Maus. I enjoyed it much more on a bit of a lighter level. Instead of asking myself questions about why Maus was written one way and not another, I spent my reading time asking myself questions like "How do I rate the importance of the relationships in the story? (from Art and his Father to Vladek and Mala, to Vladek and Anna, Art and Mala, or Art and Anna?) I was very interested in the reasons why Vladek and Mala had such a rocky relationship, and I was repeatedly disappointed at Art's lack of attention paid to this relationship. The way Vladek and Mala are portrayed really makes it seem like they never could have gotten along! On the other hand, I loved Spiegelman's portrayal of Vladek and Anna's relationship! There was a depth given to that relationship that made the side story of their courtship all the more interesting.

    I was also desperate to hear something more about Art and Anna's relationship that seemed lacking. The old comic book found in the middle of the story portrayed a dark side to their relationship, but it is hard to accept that that was the only side to it. Art also has a strange relationship with his father. There are times when he comes across as spoiled. I understand that his father can be unbearably tight, but I didn't like that Art was so unwilling to do things like help his father with the drainpipe and so on. Despite my like or dislike for any of the characters in the story. I loved the lack of closure. I know that there is a second volume to the story, but this first volume is a story in itself and the lack of closure makes for some interesting license to the reader.